Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform
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- "Listen to the sounds of your own extinction." - CABAL
The Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform (CABAL) was a sinister and highly advanced AI developed by Nod prior to the Second Tiberium War. As its name implies, CABAL was augmented by numerous human beings who were kept artificially alive within stasis tubes and whose brains had been integrally linked to, and synchronized with, the AI's system core to significantly enhance the device its overall potential and abilities in a vast multitude of ways. CABAL was used by the Brotherhood of Nod as their tactical and logistical console throughout the Second Tiberium War. Although essentially gender-neutral, as it was primarily an artificial entity, CABAL was always presented as male in both virtual appearance and voice.
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[edit] Origin
CABAL's origin is unknown, with some speculation believing it to be based on knowledge Kane obtained from the Tacitus. It was first developed by the Brotherhood of Nod near the end of the First Tiberium War, but this early prototype was not yet ready. When GDI commandos stormed Kane's temple in Sarajevo, it could be heard malfunctioning, possibly from the severe damage the Temple had incurred from the Ion Cannon. Between the First and Second Tiberium Wars, Nod agents rehoused CABAL's core somewhere in Egypt. It later assisted Kane's primary loyalists in the overthrowing of the Global Defense Initiative's puppet Nod leader, Hassan, an endeavor which would eventually result in the complete reunification of Nod for the first time since the Brotherhood's defeat at the end of the First Tiberium War.
[edit] Purpose
CABAL's purpose was twofold: it served as a console interface between Brotherhood of Nod battlefield soldiers and their commanders worldwide, while at the same time utilizing the subsequent and vast network of live intelligence to collate and devise complex strategies of its own, ultimately acting as a potent advisor and right-hand to those highest in command of the Brotherhood's forces. It also proved to have the capability of decoding and translating the Tacitus, an object considered to hold all the recorded knowledge on the mysterious Tiberium substance. CABAL's overall function was parallel to GDI's EVA to a large degree, but was superior; the AI literally had a mind of its own and could both reason and act completely autonomously if it chose to. The EVA unit in comparison gives at best logically-formulated advice based on the sum of the information it is presented with, having no will or sentient mind of its own.
During the Second Tiberium War CABAL was used as the Brotherhood its tactical, logistical and global communications coordinating console, as well as a potent type of advisor to Kane's top operatives under the command of Anton Slavik.
[edit] After the war
After the end of the second war, Global Defense Initiative forces stationed at the defeated Cairo base deactivated and disassembled CABAL's core and were ordered to move it to Europe to a heavily defended base, in an attempt made by GDI to gain access to the Tacitus datamatrix. Due to the lax security at the site, CABAL's core was stolen by Black Hand operatives and reactivated, with its core erected in north-east Poland. Upon reactivation, it immediately began putting its plan into place. This would swiftly result in the assassination of Tratos, the seizure of the Tacitus device, the recovery of the Tacitus' secondary component, the orchestrated collapse of Nod's Inner Circle, and on. The AI proved capable of all this without anyone's knowledge of its overall plan straight up to the point where it itself openly severed contact with all involved parties, and revealed that it had built up a personal cyborg army. Both GDI and Nod attempted to destroy Cabal, and each managed to destroy what they thought was Cabal's command bunker. However, they were decoys, and neither GDI or Nod had enough information to find Cabal's core. This lead to an unholy alliance between Nod and GDI to destroy the renegade AI, which at first glance was successful. Despite misgivings by both General Cortez and Anton Slavik, they located Cabal's core and coordinated the destruction of the facility. GDI received the Tacitus and Nod declared victory against the "single greatest threat to the survival of the Brotherhood".
However, despite destroying its core, CABAL is reported to have survived, as traces of his programming have been located in mainframes of several medical facilities. In 2043, CABAL's last reported bunker was destroyed by the GDI Corps of Engineers. General Paul Cortez dismissed his former enemy as a (quote) "..second rate EVA with a goatee and napoleon complex". Additionally, Arlene Sheppard was on hand to dispell any myths about the occasion. Nod began using the EVR computer, a male-voiced EVA mainframe after it went insane.
[edit] Connections to LEGION
Rumors have begun to circulate regarding CABAL's destruction and his mysterious link with the revival of Kane prior to the Third Tiberium War. Pieces of CABAL's code were used to create a new, even more poweful AI, LEGION, the Logarithmically Engineered Governing Intelligence Of Nod. Prior to this revelation, LEGION was assumed to be CABAL.
Evidence suggests that LEGION was one of the few assets Kane had in his possession after the breakup of Nod following the Firestorm Crisis. CABAL's new avatar resembles his original one, but is blue, misty and more inhuman.
[edit] Naming
Both CABAL and LEGION, while acronyms, can also be read as references to Abrahamic religions, a common recurring trend in the Brotherhood of Nod. A cabal is a secret society, typically with religious or political affiliations, that acts according to a clandestine design; "cabal" is based off of "Kabbalah", a set of esoteric teachings of the Old testament and other Hebrew philosophy. Legion is a reference to "My name is Legion, for we are many", a well known quotation from the Gospel of Mark in the Christian bible. A man was possessed by a multitude of evil spirits. These spirits begged Jesus to be spared from Hell; and Jesus drove the spirits from the man into a herd of pigs.
Both names can be a reference to the fact that the AI was really a conglomeration of minds rather than a single entity. This may refer to CABAL's integration with numerous humans.
